How to Change the Mood of Your Company
Learning how to construct a mood inside your company can transform your business, profits, and moral.
The economy has everyone on edge. Managing people and keeping them motivated requires strong leadership skills in the best business environment. Recessions place a whole new set of challenges on a leader’s shoulders. When your rank and file employees are worried about being downsized, or if the company will still be around in the future, the well being of your entire organization may be at stake. How are you leading people through this?
“Small business owners are trying to keep as many people employed as possible and to preserve workplace performance. But it can be a huge mistake to handle the continuously tough decisions by yourself or with the help of just a few senior people. You may actually be limiting your company’s ability to respond effectively to the changing business environment,” says Certified Management Effectiveness Coach and best-selling author Sue Lindgren Hawkes.
“Right now, your employees are your best untapped resource. Remember, we can do what I can’t. As a leader, your job is to create the right environment and then feed the momentum.”
Start with more conversations, and by building trust
“You may be the most honest person around. But if your employees don’t trust what you are telling them it can drive morale into the dumps and that can seriously affect your bottom line,” says Hawkes, founder of YESS! – Your Extraordinary Success Strategies, Inc. “Even when the economy is in good shape, this problem is pervasive! On average, almost half of employees do not believe their companies are being truthful in their communications with shareholders, customers and employees.”
She adds that it’s human nature to fill in missing information with negative suspicions in a fearful environment. “When people fear for their job stability, whether or not it’s based on fact, it can devastate morale and productivity. People can’t perform at their best if they are afraid about the future. In the absence of information, we confirm what we believe is a worst case scenario out of survival and to protect. Now more than ever, trust must come from open communication, especially about the tough subjects such as your company’s economic condition. This will allow people to respond rather than react.”
You can choose to have employees who just keep their heads down and hope they will still have a paycheck next month. Or, you can create a thriving collaborative effort to move the company and everyone in it forward.
“To do that, you have to talk about the elephant in the room. You may need to be more transparent about the state of the company if you want your employees to be part of the solution. For example, tell them exactly what it costs when you lose a client, and what is to be gained by adding a new one.”
Such information is empowering. “It’s not fun to know the bad news, but once people understand the situation they can help you do something about it. They often feel compelled to start looking for opportunities to contribute and offer solutions.”
Leading into Uncharted Territory
How do you grow your company despite having a smaller workforce and business deals that are closing more slowly than you would like? “You begin to recognize new opportunities. You learn how to flex once you understand that what the market needs may not necessarily be how you have been doing things,” says Hawkes. “Leading in a tough economy goes beyond cutting expenses and increasing revenue. You need to be creative and may need to completely re-think your business.”
Employees who feel empowered can help you spot new opportunities and suggest creative ways for the company to re-tool to meet different market demands. “Involve your people! Ask for their help in having the best possible outcome for your clients, the employees, and the organization as a whole. Encourage everyone to contribute. Start the discussions with open-ended questions: How can we partner more strategically? What can we do to re-define what we do? If so, how? Tell them, ‘Let’s talk about this every day if we need to, I/we don’t have all the answers…’” Once you share a collaborative worldview, it will have a positive effect on your productivity and your bottom line. “Employees are looking for ways to come forward with their ideas. People will consistently amaze you when you give them the opportunity. You don’t have to absorb the stress alone about keeping your business afloat and surviving this economy. Instead, you can lead your way into a stronger future by creating an upbeat environment where people take personal responsibility for being part of the solution.”
Until next week.
Many blessings…
Bettie J. Spruill
